the 34th section. Each candidate at an election is to pay the auditor the sum of ten pounds as a first fee for his services in and about the election. The auditor also receives a commission at the rate of two per cent. upon every payment made by him for or in respect of any bill, charge, or claim sent in to him from the candidate on whose account such payment was made. This commission would not attach to payments made by the candidate or his agents and duly accounted for to the auditor. The auditor is also to be paid his reasonable expenses, incurred by him in the business of the election and the performance of his duties as auditor. These are to be divided rateably among the candidates, and are to be charged as, and form part of, the election expenses of each candidate. Sect. 34. Expenses when Candidate absent.] In case a person should be nominated at an election in his absence, and without his authority, the proposer and seconder may undertake to pay the lawful expenses of the election; and if such proposer and seconder should undertake to pay these expenses, they will then be in the position of agents appointed in writing by the candidate, and would be also liable to pay the fees of the auditor, and any of the lawful expenses of the election. Such are the provisions on this subject. Sect. 32. It will be paying the seen that the auditor has no discretion in charges which are duly sent in to him. If claims of an unlawful character were received by the candidate, and by him transmitted to the auditor as correct, the auditor must pay them out of monies in his hands; he has no power to object to a tavern bill, duly sent in to him, or to make any observations upon its amount or nature, even though he should be persuaded that it consisted of illegal items. If a bill for cockades, or bands of music, or any other charges prohibited by this, or any other statute, were sent into him, the auditor must pay them, and include them in his account, and publish them in his abstract. Other Illegal Payments.] Attention has already been drawn to certain payments which will be deemed illegal, and which will subject the parties making them to a penalty; see sect. 18. In the recent statute there is a clause which, so far as England and Ireland are concerned, is a re-enactment of former provisions, whereby a candidate is forbidden, either by himself or his agents, to give or provide, either before, during, or after an election, any cockade, ribbon, or other mark of distinction, to any voter, or to any inhabitant of the place where the election is taking place. This provi sion is new as far as Scotland is concerned. Every person giving such cockades, &c., will forfeit two pounds for every such offence. In order still further to diminish expenditure, the act declares in the same section (a), that all payments made on account of any chairing, or for bands of music, flags, banners, or the cockades and ribbons already mentioned, are to be deemed illegal payments within the act (b). In order to prevent other persons from making payments on account of a candidate, which would be illegal if made by the candidate himself, or his authorized agents, it is provided in the 24th section, that no person shall pay any of the expenses of an election, except to the candidate, or to the election auditor. (a) Section 7. (b) The 23rd section, which declares the giving of refreshment to voters an illegal act, will be considered under the head of Treating. 'No person shall pay, or agree to pay, any expenses of any election, or any money whatever, in order or with a view to procure or promote the election of any person to serve in Parliament, save to the candidate, or to or under the authority of the election auditor, other than as excepted and allowed by this act." It is not very clear what payments are intended to be permitted by these words, "other than as excepted and allowed by this act." Certain payments may be made by a candidate and his agents, but these when made must always be accounted for to the election auditor (a). Such are the expenses of advertising in newspapers, which may be paid by the candidate, or with his authority. It is probably intended, by the 24th section, that other persons, not being agents within this act, might legally pay such expenses of advertising in the first instance, but that it would be their duty to give a true account of them afterwards to the auditor. It would appear that these are the only expenses included in the exception above mentioned. Certain payments, fit to be paid in ready money, may be paid before the nomination day, to be accounted for afterwards; but these can only be so paid by the candidate himself, or his "agents appointed by him in writing, according to the provisions of the act." Sect. 25. Expenses relating to the registration of electors, and subscriptions bona fide made to public and charitable purposes, are not to be deemed election expenses, and may legally be paid without any authority from the auditor. Sect. 24. (a) Sections 22 and 25. E Penalty on person paying expenses of Candidate.] Every person making such an illegal payment, in order to promote the election of a candidate, is liable in an action of debt to a penalty of fifty pounds, and of double the money agreed to be paid by him. The judge, however, who tries the action, if it shall appear to him that the payment was made without any corrupt or improper intention, may reduce the penalty or penalties to any sum not less than forty shillings, and he may also, if he think fit, direct that the plaintiff shall not be entitled to the costs of the action. Actions for Penalties under the Act.] No person is liable to any penalty or forfeiture imposed by the act, unless some prosecution, action, or suit shall be commenced within one year after the commission of the offence, and unless within such space of a year, such person shall be summoned or served with the writ; provided that the person accused does not avoid the service of the summons or process by absconding or withdrawing himself out of the jurisdiction. Every such prosecution, suit, or process, must be carried on without any wilful delay. Sect. 14. On the trial of any action to recover any pecuniary penalty imposed by this act, the parties to the action, and the husbands or wives of such parties respectively are competent witnesses and compellable to give evidence, according to the provisions and exceptions of 14 & 15 Vict. c. 99, and the Evidence Amendment Act, 1853, "provided always that any such evidence shall not thereafter be used in any indictment or criminal proceeding under this act against the party giving it. Sect. 35. 75 CHAPTER III. CORRUPT PRACTICES AT ELECTIONS. 1. Bribery. 2. Treating. 3. Undue Influence. 4. What Corrupt Acts avoid an Election. By far the most important branch of election law is that connected with bribery, and those other corrupt practices, which not only render the whole proceedings of an election void, but also subject offenders to most serious penal consequences. It is by the commission of malpractices of this description that so many hardfought contests are rendered useless, and so much money is wasted in long and harassing inquiries. It is therefore absolutely necessary that every person taking part in the business of an election, whether as candidate, agent, or elector, should be well acquainted with the existing state of the law on this subject. In the present chapter it is proposed to consider the three offences which have been classed together in |